Australia comprises a land area of almost 7.7 million square kilometres. This land area is almost as great as that of the United States of America (excluding Alaska), about 50% greater than Europe (excluding the former USSR), and 32 times greater than the United Kingdom. The longest river is the Murray River (2,520 kilometres), which forms a natural border between New South Wales and Victoria. The highest mountain is Mt Kosciuszko, (2,228 metres) which is situated in New South Wales.

CLIMATE

Mean daily temperature

Mean annual rainfall

January

July

mm

Max °C

Min °C

Max °C

Min °C

Sydney

1,276.5

26.1

19.4

17.2

8.6

Melbourne

654.4

25.8

15.4

13.9

6.8

Brisbane

1,194.0

29.2

21.2

20.6

9.5

Adelaide

563.0

28.7

16.8

15.2

7.4

Perth

745.3

31.9

17.2

17.9

8.4

Hobart

576.4

21.8

12.5

12.2

4.7

Darwin

1,847.1

31.8

24.8

30.7

19.4

Canberra

630.0

27.7

13.3

11.5

-0.1

Averages are for the period (1971-2000) except for Adelaide (1977-2000).